Beasts Run at the Sight of Us

The beasts fled, and the group didn't linger either, continuing onward into the depths.

This trip wasn't just about testing each other's strength against the beasts through combat.

They also hoped to encounter a late Condensing Pellet stage beast.

At that point, the six of them could attack together, honing their coordination. 

Only through such practice could they improve their teamwork more quickly.

And so the six traveled onward.

They encountered beasts again.

But to their bewilderment, they once more came across leopards.

Except this time there were two of them.

One at the second level of the Condensing Pellet stage.

The other at the third level.

The two leopards were quite close, seemingly communicating. 

When they sensed people approaching from behind, one leopard suddenly roared loudly.

From this roar, Chen Ping'an and the others felt the beast was issuing a challenge.

Which meant these two beasts weren't afraid of them!

"Excellent, let me try taking on both! Little Black, let's go!" 

This time Chen Ping'an didn't wait for Tian Shanshan's analysis and charged forward.

Black Serpent found this rather odd. 

It wanted to say something like:

"Boss, these leopards aren't challenging us, they're screaming for their moms in terror..."

But under Chen Ping'an's urging, it could only follow and run ahead.

This time, thinking the two beasts wouldn't flee, Chen Ping'an was shocked to see them turn tail and run the moment he moved.

Their speed was still terrifyingly fast.

The two fleeing beasts howled continuously too. 

Their cries only faded after they disappeared from sight.

Chen Ping'an felt helpless.

While Tian Shanshan and the others looked bewildered. 

"Heh, these leopard beasts are such cowards," Pan Hang openly mocked.

Tian Shanshan smiled wryly. "Let's keep going. This is the first time I've seen these beasts act so timid. But their awareness is high - they didn't flee far before finding another leopard. They're probably trying to gather more of their kind to deal with us. When they left earlier, they were howling nonstop, likely telling us to wait."

Wang Dagui said, "Should we change directions then?" 

There were quite a few leopard beasts around, they might get surrounded soon.

Tian Shanshan shook her head and smiled confidently. "The more that come, the better. We can practice coordinating then."

Wang Dagui nodded in agreement after hearing this.

So they continued heading the direction the leopards had fled. 

The two leopards ran whimpering and howling in terror.

Not slowing even after putting distance between them.

Soon after, they encountered another leopard.

They stopped and hurriedly explained in detail what they'd seen.

After they finished, another leopard joined their frantic escape.

Two became three.

Three became four.

Eventually, a dense crowd of leopards huddled together. 

"We can't stay here! Let's relocate!"

"Right, I was scared to death earlier. That was definitely a terrifying beast - just locking eyes with it made me tremble all over!" 

"Exactly, I never want to feel that way again!"

"If so, then let's go! We're migrating as a group!"

And so it was.

An entire tribe was forced to migrate.

...

Chen Ping'an's group traveled a bit farther without encountering any more leopards.

Good thing too.

Just as they started feeling something was off, they came across an old brown-black furred tiger. 

This tiger was over twice the size of the initial grey wolves.

An extremely fearsome appearance.

It had just passed by nearby when it noticed Chen Ping'an's group of six and paused. 

Then it let out a tremendous roar.

The booming voice sent rolling shockwaves that made Chen Ping'an's group's eardrums ache.

Tian Shanshan and the others narrowed their eyes at this beast. 

It was at the eighth level of the Condensing Pellet stage!

"Excellent, this time we can all attack together..."

However, 

Tian Shanshan's words cut off abruptly.

Because she saw Chen Ping'an had already dashed out in the blink of an eye.

"Little Black, go!"

Upon seeing this comparatively large beast, Chen Ping'an figured it would be braver than the leopards they'd encountered earlier. 

Now, in order to gauge his own strength, he charged forward sword in hand, doubling his speed.

Black Serpent nodded and rushed toward the tiger ahead. 

When the tiger saw Chen Ping'an's group approach, it showed no fear whatsoever.

Seeing the weakest Chen Ping'an charge it, a glint of disdain flashed in its eyes brimming with human-like awareness. 

However,

After disdaining Chen Ping'an with that look, it then shifted its gaze to the black dog beside him in the next instant. 

And from just that one glance, it was utterly dumbfounded. 

Its body shuddered and it let out a frantic roar before turning to flee in panic.

Oh mother!

What the hell was that?!

When its eyes met the black dog's, it felt a bone-deep, soul-shaking terror unlike anything before. 

Like a butcher's knife was already at its throat.

A feeling it had only experienced once before against a great-rift beast.

It could be certain this dread stemmed from the bloodline itself. 

But what made it so panicked now wasn't merely having felt this way against great-rift beasts before.

It was that this current sensation was thousands of times more intense than that previous encounter!!

The eighth Condensing Pellet tiger, with its faster speed, fled howling erratically without care for its path. 

Its frantic figure embodied the very essence of the survival instinct.

Watching this tiger vanish even quicker than the previous leopards, Chen Ping'an stopped, utterly baffled.

His mind filled with questions. 

"This beast looked bigger, how could it be such a coward?" 

Chen Ping'an felt helpless.

At this rate, when would he ever fight a beast?

Behind Chen Ping'an, Tian Shanshan and the others had turned to stone. 

What just happened?! 

They were equally dumbfounded.

That beast was at the eighth Condensing Pellet level!

How could it have fled?! 

This made no sense!

They looked at Chen Ping'an.

Was it because of him? 

Considering his cultivation, they decisively dismissed that notion. 

Impossible.

Then was it because the beast sensed it couldn't defeat all six of them?

That must be it!

With that thought, Wang Dagui laughed heartily. "Hahaha, it seems our overall strength is quite formidable! "

If beasts were this afraid of them, then at the competition just showing up would heap immense pressure on opponents. 

"Not bad! I reckon we should easily place in the top three this time," the inconspicuous man also smiled and commented. 

Pan Hang wore an arrogantly smug grin. "Top three? This time we're getting first place for sure!"

Hearing this, Tian Shanshan smiled with relief.

Everyone seemed quite confident. 

Only Liu Shuai's thoughts differed from theirs at the moment. 

That tiger clearly looked down on them initially.

Until Chen Ping'an and the black dog charged forward, only then did it flee in terror!

Liu Shuai stared at Chen Ping'an, now 100% convinced the weapon in his hand was that divine artifact! 

Moreover, he was certain Chen Ping'an was merely feigning weakness. 

"How strange for this guy to pretend to be weak. But by scaring the beasts away, isn't he just making others suspicious?"

Chen Ping'an rejoined Tian Shanshan's group, smiling wryly. "These beasts really are cowards." 

Pan Hang spoke arrogantly. "You should look at who's standing behind you. With us here, even beasts at the Yuan Ying stage would probably flee in terror!" 

Upon hearing Pan Hang's arrogant words, Black Serpent gave a disdainful snort.

Then it closed its eyes, and a remnant shadow appeared at the entrance of a mountain cave.

A Yuan Ying stage beast, you say?

I'll arrange that for you right away.